Toronto fans know this all to well as JF Jr. put them here until possibly this past season . He's not the only one to do this Sather in New york, Nashville (arguably due to Trotz getting the most out of his players), Florida, and Edmonton (all teams which have finished in the middle of the conference but not getting a top 5 pick, consistently.

Flames may enter purgatory for at least the next two years , not good enough to challenge for the cup, locked in with too many mediocre players with unmovable contracts, and not bad enough to draft an immediate impact player, and poor enough drafting to not find alot of Patrice Cormier's and Adam Henrique's, Shea weber's or Milan Lucic's in the later rounds.

All summer it was reported that Sarich didn't have a NTC or NMC, making him the most likely to be traded and suddenly he does, all summer and into training camp it was 10 NTC on the roster, very odd. (no sarcasm intended)

Speaking of bad drafting, goalies taken in the first round in the past 18 years.... three have one cups as starting goalies. JS Gigure, Cam Ward, and MA Fluery. only the latter two with the team that originally drafted them.
Cup winners of total drafted in the first round.
It should be noted Gig (not with the team which drafted him) and MA had two appearances in the final.
1 of 20 (1992-2000) JS Gigure
2 of 20 (2000-2008) Cam Ward, Ma Fluery.